Posted under Money Saving Tips on December 10, 2015
“How
many times do you travel in a year?” a friend asks.“A lot due to speaking invitations
and conventions, but if you’re asking about vacation travel then that would be
2-3 times a year,” I replied.
“Isn’t
that few? You can afford to go on more,” he inquired.“Because that’s the peak
of my fulfillment curve when it comes to traveling for pure pleasure,” I
answered.
“Fulfillment
curve?” he asks.
“Yes,
are you familiar with the term?”
“I
have an idea. But what is it?”
“The
fulfillment curve is a concept, which states that there’s a certain quantity
for anything at which we can get the most satisfaction; more than that, the
fulfillment then gradually decreases,” I explained.
The Fulfillment Curve
Think
about your favorite dessert and ask yourself, would you want to have that after
every meal for one whole year?I know the impulse would be to say “Yes” but
honestly, do you think that would be a good idea?
My
favorite dessert is McDonald’s caramel sundae; and since there’s always a
McDonald’s nearby wherever I go, I can actually afford to have it as much as I
want to.However, I’ve discovered that my fulfillment curve peak for it is just
once every 3 weeks – anything more than that and the experience isn’t as
satisfying, plus I start to feel guilty for eating such an “unhealthy” dessert.
As
another example, I have a friend who loves reading books and before, he could
only afford to buy a novel once a month.However, he could finish a novel in
just a week so when his budget allowed it, he’d buy another one.
Today,
his salary allows him to buy as much as 5-7 books a month, and that’s what he
did for a few months, and doing so disrupted his reading habit.Instead of
starting and finishing a single novel, he’d read several books at once, jumping
from one story to another when the plot gets boring.
A
couple of months later, unopened novels began stacking in his bookshelf, and he
started to feel guilty for not having the time to read them.
Until
one day, he decided not to buy any more books until he could finish everything
and slowly, his reading habit normalized and his guilt subsided.This was the
time when he discovered that his fulfillment curve peak is 3 books per month –
and even if he could afford to buy more, he doesn’t because he knows that
spending more won’t make him happier.
Work, Money, and Fulfillment
We
work so we can earn money, which we can use to survive, experience comfort, and
afford luxuries.Work requires our time and energy – the two things we have that
we give, in exchange for money.
Our
time and energy are precious non-tangible assets, so it’s only right to use the
money we earned from work on things that will give us the most fulfillment. And
as we’ve discovered today, buying more of the things we want doesn’t mean it
will be more fulfilling.The challenge for us is to determine that sweet spot
where it is enough – the point where having more tips us towards
overconsumption and less satisfaction.
So I
hope you learned something good today in this post. I first came across the
concept of the fulfillment curve in the book, “Your Money or Your Life” by
Vicki Robin, Joe Dominguez, and Monique Tilford; I recommend reading this book
for everyone.
No comments:
Post a Comment